OSU Prof. to Detail His Work on Improving Local Air Quality Measurements

Dr. Andrew May, Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic  Engineering at The Ohio State University, will present details about his work in improving the measurements of local air quality on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Ronk Lecture Hall. The event is presented as part of the Environmental Lecture Series and the College of Arts & Sciences' biennial Symposium Against Indifference which are both focusing on the theme of "Liberty and Responsibility." The event is free and open to the public.

Across the US, air pollutants regulated under the Clean Air Act are monitoring at fixed-location sites, and based on these measurements, the majority of the US does not experience air quality issues. However, these measurement sites may be sparsely distributed through space. Dr. May will discuss two of his projects that seeks to address this issue by providing data with improved spatial resolution in areas where people live, work, and play using low-cost sensors.

These projects include deploying sensors on a transit bus to provide regular, repeated measurements in an urban environment and collaborating with high schools near Columbus, OH to establish a network of sensors throughout the local community. Improved spatial resolution can provide better estimates of localized air pollutant concentrations and better protect children, the elderly, and other groups who may be more sensitive to poor air quality.

Dr. May holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, an MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Clarkson University, and a BE in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware. Subsequent to his PhD, he was a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. Dr. May’s research has two main focus areas: 1) emission, fate, and transport of atmospheric pollutants and 2) indoor environmental quality. These efforts include both laboratory and field studies as well as computational  approaches. He also has on-going collaborations with three high schools in Central Ohio that enable students to collect localized air quality data using low-cost sensors.

The University's Environmental Lecture Series specifically focused this year's programming to complement the Symposium Against Indifference's "Liberty and Responsibility" theme by organizing a series of events encompassing a diverse set of discussions across disciplines to focus on "Environmental laws and Ohio wildlife, natural resources and quality of life."  The goal of this year’s Environmental Lecture Series is to engage with this theme through examples of the application of Ohio's environmental laws and policies.

Fifty years ago on January 1, 1970, President Nixon signed into law the National Environmental Policy Act. Later that year, Nixon ordered the establishment of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with responsibility for maintaining and enforcing national standards under a variety of environmental laws. Nixon signed other laws focused on environmental health, including the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act. This began a nearly six-decade period in which U.S. citizens were expected to take more responsibility for their actions in the natural environment. Over this same time period, some individuals and communities objected to new restrictions on liberty with respect to use of natural areas. This tension remains for many examples of both national laws and local policies.

Support for the Environmental Lecture Series is provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation, donations from individuals and additional support from Ashland University.

Spring 2020 Events Listing Released

After a successful fall slate of enlightening events, the 10th Biennial College of Arts & Sciences Symposium Against Indifference releases its Spring 2020 listing of events which is available online and in hard copy.

The spring events include:

• a lecture on low-cost improvements to measuring air pollutants in Columbus, Ohio;
• a panel discussion about corporate social responsibility;
• a living history performance of Carrie Chapman Catt's woman's suffrage story; and 
• a 4-part series on the Victims of Communism including: 
• a personal story from a North Korean defector, 
• lessons learned on the downfall of the Venezuelan democracy from a Venezuelan dissident 
• a film screening of The Lives of Others which follows an East German surveillance, and 
• a lecture on Havel's Rhetoric of Truth through Communist Czechoslovakia

Inspired by the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing and protecting women’s right to vote, along with the ratification and appeal of the 18th Amendment prohibiting liquor — the 2019.2020 theme of “Liberty & Responsibility” seeks to understand and find productive responses to the constant and unavoidable tension between liberty and responsibility.

AU Alumnus Returns to Discuss Green Chemistry

On Thursday, April 14 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 112 of the Kettering Science Center, alumnus Dr. Marc Klingshirn will give a brief introduction to green chemistry with selected examples to illustrate how this mode of thinking has shaped his teaching, research and career. He explains that green chemistry can most easily be thought of as "sustainable chemistry." It is a tool box that allows one to think about chemical processes from an environmental perspective.

After completing his B.S. degree in chemistry and environmental science at Ashland, Dr. Klingshirn received an M.S. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Tennessee, a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from The University of Alabama and completed his Postdoctoral at Saint Olaf College. From studying metal contaminants in Lake Erie soil sediment as an undergraduate with current AU faculty members Michael Hudson and Jeffrey Weidenhamer, to studying and developing ion-exchange resins for ground water remediation for his Master’s, and focusing on the rapidly emerging field of green chemistry in his doctoral work -- environmental issues and problems have always been his interest. While he has started to expand into the area of greener inorganic synthesis, sustainability, environmental, and efficient use (and reuse) of resources continue to be a foundation of his research. He is Associate Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Honors Program at the University of Illinois Springfield.